Astoundingly, Mr. Newman writes in his report that he was unable to interview any of the analysts involved as well as the majority of broker firms whose analysts attended analyst meetings. Without their views, it seems that Mr. Newman may not have had the full picture and perhaps it’s no wonder that Newcrest was cleared in his ‘independent’ report.—Mike King, the Motley Fool

That day Newcrest’s shares sank 12% before it disclosed plans to cut up to AU$6 billion in asset values, reduce costs and shelve planned expansions and exploration activities.

According to Aussie laws, tipping falls under insider trading and carries fines or as much as 10 years in jail.

Newman’s report concludes there is no conclusive evidence of malpractices at Newcrest and he recommends the company scale back communications with the investment community.

He goes on to blame analysts for having “missed the signals” presented in the company announcements previous to June 7.

“Despite the fact that the investor relations function understands well its obligations under the law, it seems some analysts fail to fully understand the relevance of company releases,” he said.

As most gold miners, the Melbourne-based company has been hit hard by current bullion prices, which have forced the company to cut costs, fire hundreds of employees and close one of its Australian offices, among other belt-tightening measures.